I’m surprised that Denis Miller hasn’t made the list. Also (speaking of obscure) I’ll throw in Greg Giraldo. Not high-brow but funny - NSFW here:
++++++++++++ Progress Report +++++++++++
As of Post #20 these people have been mentioned more than once:
Dave Attell
Lewis Black
Lenny Bruce
George Carlin
Louis CK
Bill Cosby
Zach Galifianakis
Mitch Hedberg
Bill Hicks
Richard Jeni
Sam Kinison
Steve Martin
Norm McDonald
Patton Oswalt
Richard Pryor
Chris Rock
Jerry Seinfeld
Daniel Tosh
Dennis Wolfberg
Steven Wright
==========================
I’m keeping a tally by name and as we approach 50 posts those with the most mentions will be the ones in the eventual poll. If we were to get no more posts with lists of names to consider, this is the group I would use for the poll.
That’s some funny stuff right there. (On jerking off to Pam Anderson: “I’ve spilled more seed than Muhammad Ali at a bird feeder”)
On another note, I am noticing that a very large (relatively speaking) percentage of stand up comedians have died at a young age.
You can add Giraldo to my list, if that is allowed.
mmm
Done.
That is some fun stuff and your observation about life expectancy among comics seems valid to me. Not that they are all that more likely to die young than the general public, but it’s still alarming how many of the really good comics are dead now. That’s not counting the octogenerians!
Not that I’m anxious to take it on as a side project, but a thread on Dead Comics for the sake of getting votes for Best might be worth somebody else’s time.
And as for adding to lists, I’m more for getting the right group of names to vote for than I am for policing multiple votes in this thread. In fact, I’m planning to link to posts in the other recent threads I started on “who’s funnier/funniest?” to be sure the good folks are in the running for the poll.
How has **Eddie Murphy **not been mentioned? I mean, I know he’s not funny now but Raw was excellent.
We need some UK comedians here, starting with Peter Kay. Seriously, the man is a comic genius. Also of note:
Sean Lock
Omid Djalili
Rich Hall (I know he’s American but he’s big in the UK)
Eddie Izzard
Tim Vine
and the Man Himself, Bob Monkhouse.*
And since you’re counting multiple hits as a criteria for inclusion here are some more:
Paula Poundstone
Gilbert Gottfried
Bill Hicks
Jonathan Winters
Don Rickles
Bob Newhart
Robin Williams
Bill Cosby
Steve Martin
Chris Rock
Woody Allen
Lenny Bruce
George Carlin
Richard Pryor
- Best joke ever: “They laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian. But they’re not laughing now.”
That’s the spirit, Gyrate!
==================
From Who’s Funnier, Gervais or Izzard? – this post – and – this post yield these names that I’m adding to the list or to the name counts.
Bill Maher
Dave Chappelle
Chris Rock
Al Franken
Larry David
Garry Shandling
Louis C.K.
Sarah Silverman
David Sedaris
Robert Klein
George Carlin
Lewis Black
If Acsenray, TruCelt or PlainJain wish to embellish their comments or add to their lists in this thread, please do so.
After the first 30 posts in Who was/is Funniest? where the voting is:
Flip Wilson 3 2.56%
Eddie Murphy 11 9.40%
Chris Rock 25 21.37%
Richard Pryor 45 38.46%
Bill Cosby 29 24.79%
Redd Foxx 4 3.42%
Names mentioned that aren’t in the poll, and which I’m adding to the list/counts are:
George Carlin
Steve Allen
Elayne Boosler
Nipsey Russell
Sam Kinison
Patton Oswalt
Also, if you’re looking for a source list to pick from, and missed seeing it in that thread, see List of comedians - Wikipedia
it’s criminal that there’s only 1 jim gaffigan nomination. 2 now.
russell peters had some juice about 4 years ago. his asian accents are spot on.
i think mitch hedburg is going to run away with this one if it’s multiple options, but Cosby is going to have a lot of votes as well.
jim gaffigan
Gabriel Iglasias
Mitch Hedberg
Katt Williams
Patrice O’Neil
Your hunch is good! Here are how the multiple-mentions are doing at this point:
Woody Allen (2)
Dave Attell (2)
Lewis Black (3)
Lenny Bruce (3)
George Carlin (8) <===
Dave Chappelle (2)
Louis CK (8) <===
Bill Cosby (6) <===
Jim Gaffigan (2)
Zach Galifianakis (2)
Greg Giraldo (2)
Mitch Hedberg (7) <===
Bill Hicks (3)
Eddie Izzard (2)
Richard Jeni (2)
Sam Kinison (3)
Bill Maher (2)
Steve Martin (6) <===
Norm MacDonald (2)
Bob Newhart (2)
Patton Oswalt (4)
Paula Poundstone (2)
Richard Pryor (6) <===
Chris Rock (4)
Jerry Seinfeld (2)
Garry Shandling (2)
Daniel Tosh (2)
Tim Vine (2)
Robin Williams (2)
Jonathan Winters (2)
Dennis Wolfberg (3)
Steven Wright (4)
I wouldn’t be opposed to going with these 32 names, if it comes to that. But the list might change enough over the next 30 posts (or so) to start dropping the (2) or even (3) counters from the eventual poll.
So if you have looked over the names already mentioned that are not yet on the multiple-mentions list, you might use the opportunity to get your favorites into contention.
My main objective is to have a poll of what SDMB users consider the Funny Folks to see which ones are the Funniest. This preliminary thread is to try to be as fair as possible. I expect the Eventual Poll to be Multiple Choice with an honor-system limit of five votes per voter.
If you have points to make about where this is headed, now’s the time to say so. After-the-fact bitching and moaning about who didn’t make it to the list is just for the sake of B&M as I see it.
Your post came while I was doing my latest. I’ll add yours to the tallies.
I am shocked that Andy Kaufmann is not mentioned by anybody.
Some of my favorites will make the final list no matter what, so I’ll cast a vote for some lesser-scoring faves:
Eddie Izzard
Richard Jeni
Bob Newhart
Robin Williams
Dennis Wolfberg (“Run Jews! Run!”)
GO - I’m not. Kaufman may have been a genius, and was definitely disturbing, iconoclastic and interesting, but funny he wasn’t. YMMV, of course.
Bill Burr
Dave Attell
Dave Chappelle
David Cross
Lewis Black
Robert Schimmel
Not so much a comedian or comic as a performance artist, though. Funny stuff, though.
I am really disappointed I’m the only one who’s suggested Titus so far.
I’ll second Robert Schimmel from DCnDC’s post. And unless I missed it, I can’t believe that I’m the first to mention Ron White.
Well, for me it would certainly be a choice between a number of British comedians (I’ve not heard of most of the American ones mentioned) but there’s probably no point putting them in a poll on a US-centric board. I suppose you could include Eddie Izzard and Ricky Gervais, but I don’t know if any others would have been heard of over there.
See post #25 for some Brits already named besides Izzard and Gervais.
Your point is well taken as far as likely results of the poll go, but I’m hoping comedy fans may refer to this thread and others in the same vein for names of comics they haven’t seen or heard before. In the spirit of that sort of sharing, I’d welcome a list of British funny people for reference if nothing else.
ETA: You might also look at Convince us your favorite comedian is funny, in three YouTube clips or less. - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board (Convince us your favorite comedian is funny, in three YouTube clips or less.) for a way to share your favorites with the Dope.
OK, well Stewart Lee and** Richard Herring**, for sure (independently as current comics, not for the stuff they did together back in the day - although *Fist of Fun *was pretty funny).
I know it’s an upopular choice to those who like “cool” comedians, but Michael McIntyre is actually really funny, despite being incredible mainstream.
Jack Dee used to be pretty funny. **Rhod Gilbert **is very funny. Chris Addison does some great standup when he’s not busy being on TV.
Rowan Atkinson. I don’t know if he still does stand-up (I suspect not) but he was frikkin’ hilarious when he did.
Honourable mentions: Bill Bailey, **Jimmy Carr **(getting a bit stale now, though, I think).